[Omnia 7 Windows Phone 7 Development] Casey_boy:
Modified from my instructions posted in the wiki.

http://xdaforums.com/wiki/index.php?title=Samsung_Omnia_7#Updating.2FChanging_the_ROM

Updating/Changing the ROM

Before continuing with any of the following processes, you should note that (at present) there is no way to back up your user data. Things such as your contacts and emails can be re-downloaded from your phone since they are stored on remote servers. Multimedia items which have been synced with Zune to your PC can also manually be transferred back to your phone. However, things such as personalisation settings, SMS and MMS are lost. Programs can, of course, be re-downloaded from the Marktetplace - but this, again, is a manual process.

This process may also help your recover a "bricked"device - or rather one which does not successfully boot up into Windows Phone fully.

Hard Reset / Full Format

You may wish to hard reset the phone if you are experiencing software errors which are not fixed after a soft reset (pulling the battery out) or if you wish to clear the phone (i.e. you've just bought the phone second hand or are selling the phone).

To hard Reset your Omnia 7 without booting into Windows Phone 7, you have to:

Turn off the phone.

Turn on the phone, holding the Power + Volume DOWN + Camera buttons

Hit home button (Start) twice to begin.

Update/Change the ROM

Disclaimer:You should note that this process may void your warranty! Neither I nor xda will be held responsible for any damage caused, or refusal of warranty, by following this guide.

Before you can update your ROM you'll need to see if you can access the phone's Download Mode.

Accessing Download Mode

To update your ROM software, you will need to be able to access the phone's download mode.

Turn off the phone

Turn on the phone, holding down the Power + Volume UP + Camera buttons simultaneously.

When the phone turns on, release the power button.

A yellow triangle with an exclamation mark and a "download mode” message should appear.

If you are successful in this then you can continue with the flash. If you are unable to access download mode, then your phone has a faulty(?) bootloader. Follow the instructions in this forum post.

Download your ROM and flash tools

To flash the new ROM you will need:

Your new ROM.

There are currently three ROMs available though the only difference is their locale (which you can change later in the settings). The 8700XXJK1 ## 2010 November CSC_Cetus_Europe_I8700XENJK1 can be found here. The ROM package is compressed in .rar format, the password is samfirmware.com

Edit: A nice sticky thread now exists with loads of ROMs available here

Samsung Mobile USB Drivers v5.2

Can be found here

Samsung WP7 Flash Program

Can be found here

Now we're ready to flash!

Turn off your phone and disconnect it from the PC

Unrar the downloaded ROM package and install the Samsung USB drivers

Boot the phone into download mode (or insert your jig)

Now connect the phone to your PC. Windows should recognise your device and install the drivers (it may check Windows Update first, you can either skip this or just let it be).

Open the WP7 flash program. If you are prompted with an md5 error, don't worry! You should see now an Active COM port (green) in the program.

Drag and drop the ROM files (all four) into the program, a small box will pop up and check the files. It will disappear.

Click start and the flash process begins!

DO NOT interrupt this process. Keep the phone and PC connected throughout. After 10-15mins the phone will reboot and you'll have your fresh new ROM.

Some things to note:

Between steps 7 and 8 everything should go automatically.

After the phone reboots for the fist time, a screen with a phone and a computer with an arrow and a red cross over the arrow will appear - this is OK!

There may be some delay between the phone asking for its new configuration settings and the flash program saying the flash is complete (a progress bar states it is still "Rebuilding"). It may be wise to just allow that progress bar to complete before inserting the new settings.

Depending upon what ROM you flash, you will find that your language and locale are probably not correct. You will need to change these in "Settings" for things such as Marketplace to work correctly.

If the Flash program does not recognise your device, try a different USB port. If that still doesn't work, try starting the program first and then plug in your phone.

Credits: Heathcliff74 and Erwan for the images.

Casey